This fully illustrated publication details what we presently know about life the soil and the complex ecosystem within which life is sustained. Of course, and here is the rub, when the soil is described as being a very complex living ecosystem, the information flies in the face of Industrial Agriculture. Modern farmers, with the help of their agents, have all but declared war on soil life by the use of petrochemical fertilizers and pesticides. The Global Soil Biodiversity Atlas makes this war on soil life look ridiculous and short sighted as it is dangerous. A war against the living soil is, in fact, a war on ourselves. Our very survival depends on the soil life thriving. The Atlas replaces ignorance of living systems with a beautifully illustrated and well-researched summary of the ecosystem essential to all life on earth.

The cognitive dissonance this Atlas causes at the agricultural universities will promote discussion and debate amongst those intellectually honest enough to question their own behavior. Most importantly, we might look at our practices from a new paradigm of a living soil rather than soil as a ‘medium that holds the plant upright while we grow it’. The outcome of these discussions will grow intelligent ways in which we can all contribute to promoting soil biodiversity and sustainability for the generations to come.